Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Is Jim Rutherford right about the Penguins window still being open?

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

In the second-to-last day of 2020, there's plenty of hockey content around and that starts with the NHL on NBC's schedule coming out? How many times will the Penguins play and against which teams? How weird will it be without Doc Emrick on the call for all of them? After that, Hunter goes into some comments from Mie Sullivan's media day plus some comments from Jim Rutherford in a story from Josh Yohe. Is Rutherford right to say that the window is still open? Hunter also talks about Jim's point to go back to speed and skill even though he should never have abandoned that philosophy. Finally, the show ends with Teddy Blueger's season review and what to expect from him in his third season.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.BuiltGoVisit BuiltGO.com and use promo code “LOCKED,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, welcome to this Tuesday evening episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. Wow, right as I start recording this, there's some new, well, NHL News, but, you know, it's not Penguins related. Apparently, Nico Hesha will not be on the ice for the start of training camp. He suffered a leg injury training in Switzerland in early December.

He did not have surgery. They do not consider this long-term, a matter of days week. So not good news there for the Devils. I really don't think the Devils are going to be that good this year. anyway, but, you know, I love when news breaks right as I start recording. But anyways, this is a Penguins podcast. We'll have Penguins content on here. I'm in the first segment.

NH1N NBC, well, just NBC and NBC Sports, I should say. They released the TV schedule for today, like the Sunday games, the Wednesday games, and, you know, just basically their entire schedule. So very interesting choices. You know, we're going to talk about that. How many games of the Penguins will be playing? All that good stuff. Mike Sullivan also talked to the media today.

we'll touch on that. What do you have to say it with some stuff? And then the last segment, we will talk about the last player season review, Teddy Bluger. I think that wraps them up. I did all of the defensemen. Basically, have done all the fours. And I didn't do Patrick Molo for obvious reasons. I'm not going to do Conor Sherry for obvious reasons.

Dominic Cahoon, you know, nothing really like that. I mean, I'm basically just doing all the everyday players for the Penguins lineup. I could do Sam Lafferty. You know, maybe I'll do that later this week, you know, if I want to do the 13th of Fortune Fords. But we'll wrap out with Teddy Blugger, who I did think had a. strong season for the Penguins. But so the NHL and NBC schedule came out today. So the first game of the 2021 NHL season will be Penguins Flyers, 530 p.m.

start January 13th on NBC Sports Network. It doesn't get any better than that. You know, a big, this reminds me of just during 2013, you know, with a lockout short in season, they put Penguins Flyers as the first game of the season on NBC. I think the Penguins won that game three to one, if I'm not mistaken, in Philly. We'll see if the Penguins can try to do that. here in the short and season. You know, eight years later,

they're still going to put Penguins Flyers the first game on national television. I'm not really sure who will call the game. I would assume their number one team will be in Tampa Bay for the banner raising against the Chicago Blackhawks. And speaking of the Blackhawks, best wishes to Jonathan Taves.

I don't know what he's going through. It sounds really scary. You know, I put out a tweet earlier that it sounded like something, you know, weird like the hostess situation. You know, then I have a couple buddies that are Chicago fans say, you know, it kind of reminds them of Brian

Bickles' diagnosis with MS. So I really hope it's not bad. And I really hope we see Jonathan Taves on the ice as soon as possible. But, you know, his health comes first. And, you know, I just, I wish him the best in his recovery. You know, going back to the NBC stuff, you know, like I said, it's great that they're doing this, a 5.30 p.m. start. I mean, it makes a lot of sense to put a game at 5.30.

You're probably going to see a lot of that. I think this season, guys. A lot of people are still at home, not going into offices. I mean, a lot of people are home from school. I mean, you know, they honestly could put games on. at noon or 3.30, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Well, you know, that's also for local networks, I should say. You know, NBC is but mostly probably going to be doing the night games. Then, you know, you look, I looked at just some of the, I think these are the Sunday

games, Sunday and Saturday games for the MH on NBC. The Red Wings have three games on here, on this list, and the Colorado Avalanche have two. That does just not make any sense to me. We all know the Red Wings are going to be utterly terrible. So I really don't understand why NBC is just so fascinated with Detroit. Well, I guess it's ratings and all that. I mean, they're playing Chicago on national television on Sunday, January 24th. I don't know who's going to watch that game, considering those two teams stink. But it's that's a bold decision there, NBC.

I tweeted this to you guys. Remember that when the next TV deal comes up. Just trust me. Remember that stuff. That's just something that the league is just not going to let fly. I could see Fox getting in, maybe ESPN, who knows. For the Saturday, Sunday games for the Penguins, they play Washington on Sunday, January 17th. That will be, I think, on NBC, non-N-NBC Sports Network.

They will also play February 14th. I think that is, is that President's Day weekend or is that Valentine's Day weekend? I think it's Valentine's Day weekend, if I'm not mistaken. Then they will play April 25th against Boston, a Sunday game on NBC. and then they will also play Saturday, April 17th against the Buffalo Savers. So that basically does it for the Saturday-Sunday matchups for NBC. And I'm just looking at their side right now. So then there's the Sunday night games.

They will play, the Penguins will play the Rangers on Sunday night, March 7th in Pittsburgh. I think that's the only one the Penguins have on here if I'm making sure. Yeah, that is the only one. I'm trying to find the Wednesday night hockey list. Yeah, besides Pittsburgh, Philly. Um, yeah, Buffalo, Pittsburgh already talked, touched on that one. Um, so I think they're on here a total of what, six, seven times or something like that. I mean, it's not like a massive amount. I don't think it's as much as Chicago or something like that. But, you know, so a decent amount for the people that do not live in Pittsburgh like myself, you know, have to stream most of the games because I don't get the local channel that Steve Mears and Bob Erie broadcast on. And, you know, I'm really going to miss, uh, Reddit NHL Streams. That is one place that, you know, everyone loved and it sucks that had to be shut down. But there is one site. It. It's one site. It. If you guys do, some of you guys don't live in Pittsburgh that listen to this podcast, um, surge sports, sports surge, something like that.

Um, they have a bunch of streams for site. Just make sure your ad blockers on. Um, you don't want any malware coming on your computer or that and just like X out of the ads if they come on as soon as possible and you'll totally be fine. But that's basically the schedule for NBC and NBC Sports Network. Um, like I said, Penguins are on about five, six, seven times, something around that number. It would usually be around, I think, 10 to 12 in a normal season. They usually are in the top three to five among teams for being on national television.

but I mean for obvious reasons. Pittsburgh is one of those strongest hockey markets in the country. They pull viewership more than most cities in this country. So it's not surprised that they're also at the top of the list here in the shortened season. And you know, there's still a possibility that they could flex more games to NBC and NBC Sports Network. I think the last day, the regular season, it's like May 8th or something like that. They said on there, there's a TBD for a game. So if that game has a lot of playoff implications, they can just flex that to NBC prime time or whatever they want to do for that.

But I'm really excited to watch some games on NBC and NBC Sports Network. I mean, the one big thing that, of course, we're all going to miss is Doc Emmerich. I can't say enough about how great of an announcer he is. I mean, besides Mike Lang, well, Mike Lang is the voice of the Penguins. But, you know, outside of that, I think Doc Emmerich is the voice of hockey. You know, growing up watching him ever since I can remember, you know, just remember the Stanley Cup games from 2008, the Stanley Cup games from 2009, even before that, you know, when I was, you know, 10, 11, years old, just hearing that voice.

I'm not going to imitate it, of course, because I don't want to embarrass myself. But, you know, it's just such an iconic voice in the way he would just describe the game and everything. It's just a lot of people are going to miss it. You know, I remember that really goosebumps the video that NBC put out right before the return to play and Doc was just narrating everything. And, you know, it just sent chills down your spine just because, you know, this year has just been so much and he was just able to talk about it in such a great way.

and I'll dismiss how he describes the game. That's the biggest thing. And also by reading about him, he just seems like probably one of the nicest people in the world. And, you know, he's somehow a Pirates fan. So I got to give it to him on that one. But, you know, just all the legendary calls, you know, just the Kuhnitz Overtime winner, you know, the Hornquist Stanley Cup winner in 2017, the 2016 Empty Netter to Win the Cup, the 2009 with Max Talbot.

You know, one of the biggest ones that I remember scared the living shit out of me was I think when Cronwall hit the crossbar with less. than three minutes remaining in 2009. And it was just a huge, like, off the crossbar or whatever the hell it was. And I just, that voice is iconic. And everyone I think is going to miss him. But, you know, they are in good hands.

They're number one guy. I think it's Kenny Albert, if I'm not mistaken, or it's John Foresland. They both are great play-by-play guys. I really don't get the hate for Kenny Albert. You know, I've met him personally. I think he's a really great human. And he's just a great announcer too.

You know, hopefully we get more of Ryan Boucher. Pierre McGuire is just so bad. So I really don't want to see a lot of Pierre for Penguins game, especially you hear Christopher Lutang and all that garbage. And just, you know, he always embarrasses himself when talking about analytics. So I really just, hopefully we get a lot of Brian Boucher. Eddie Olchek, I honestly don't mind Eddie at times, but also he's just kind of, eh. But okay, I've been ranting too long here, just talking about NBC too much.

So we're going to get to the next segment. But before we do that, we do have to touch on Bill Go first. Whether it's a mental, physical wall, you can break through with Go every day. It's easy to take in 1.5 ounce packages. You can put in your briefcase for the most focused presentation ever. Put in your golf bag to power through the back nine, or you can put it in your pocket to get through the day. It's the best workout gel on the market.

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. This episode will be posting, well, on Wednesday when I started recording this last night, coming into today. I just was not able to finish it. So it'll be posting today. So as I said in this segment, we're going to touch on some comments from Mike Sullivan yesterday. And then we'll also touch on his article from Josh Yowie. He spoke to Jim Rutherford basically about, you know, like how long the championship window could be going and all that. But before we do get into that article, it's time to look at it.

what Mike Sullivan had to say. He had some injury updates, but, you know, also just going into training camp and all that. Just had some things to say. One of the big ones was about the goalie situation. You know, I was reading a preview, I think, from Dom from the Athletic. I think this was the – he did one from the Canadian division. I think it was the one I was reading about Montreal yesterday. Basically, you know how the Canadians were able to go out and get a backup that can actually steal some games and carry price

because your starter needs to play less and less moving board just because it's just such a grueling season. I mean, for a regular 82 game season, you just can't have. have goalies playing 60, 64 games anymore. You probably need to be in about the 50 to 55 range, have your backup play 20, 25, even maybe 30 games, potentially. So Sullivan touched on what is his plan is for the goalies to go is. It's going to require that two goaltenders participate. We look at our schedule month to month.

We have six back-to-backs. We're going to have to manage the work out appropriately. We believe we have two really capable guys, and Jari and Casey to Smith. I mean, my guess for the 56 game season, you're probably going to see JAR already start 35 games, maybe only 30. I mean, I could honestly see them giving to Smith 25 starts.

It wouldn't surprise me. Obviously, you want to see what you have in Jara. You gave him a decent contract. You know, he's making, I think, what, three and a half million for the next few seasons? I mean, he does not have a big sample size. This is going to be his biggest sample size yet for the season. So, I mean, you want to give him the boatload of starts,

but, you know, you're also going to have to take some away from him so he doesn't get gassed going into the playoffs. It's good that they've had a long rest. They haven't played since August. But, I mean, you just, you don't want to, overwork a young goaltender like this. He also talked about, you know, no preseason games, so he doesn't, he can't evaluate all the rookies right away.

He said that's going to be one of the challenges. I know five on five play is going to be a priority as far as what we're going to do in training camp. We're going to prioritize inter-squad scrimmages. We have a game day simulations and built in. So at least that's good. You know, I mean, you can just do a bunch of scrimmages and act like their preseason games, and that's how you can really evaluate the rookies.

You know, also talked about Zach Astin Reese. He said he's on track to return when the, where the medical staff anticipated. Zach would continue to make strides there. We will monitor him as we get closer to the return to play. Jim Rutherford, honestly, you know, he said something different today in Yobi's piece. Apparently, it sounds like it could be another month for Ashton Reese's return than anticipated. So it looked like that was going to be in February. Now it might be pushed back to March.

So we may only get Ashton Reese for, you know, the back half of the season, maybe, I don't know, 30 games, something like that. You know, at least he's going to return, though. So I'm really excited for that. That's basically it, though, from Mike Sullivan. a lot of big updates, you know, just mostly coach talk because, you know, he doesn't really give a lot of away anyway. So on to this interesting article from Josh on Jim Rutherford. You know, Josh basically asked him, you know, like, oh, is your window closed? A lot of people are saying this. And Jim says, you know, it's a pretty standard thing for people to say,

to be honest, that's why I would expect people to say those don't follow us very much. They aren't close to our teams. They don't know as much about our team. We are still contenders. He goes, I think some of the comments on a team like us has had a lot of success, They are just negative and jealous things. I see it in all sports. I mean, I get worries coming through them with that. I mean, I see it all the time with Pittsburgh Steelers. You know, worst 11-0 team of all time.

You know, this team absolutely stinks. And yeah, they lost a few games, but, you know, whenever they lose just a couple of games, you know, the media is they're never shy about just saying, oh, this team stinks. Like, oh, ha-ha, I told you so. Even though they were doing so well at the time, the media was just so quiet about it. You know, that's one thing I'll never understand with sports media. Just some people in sports media, I should say. You know, it's not all the media.

and as someone who isn't in media and wants to do this full time for a living, I hope to not be like that with a hot take person who's just going to say a bunch of garbage for the sake of saying garbage and just get clicks and all that. He also talked about getting back to the speed and skill game, but he also did come down from being so mad about the Canadians and Islander series. He said, I'll say this about those series. We lost to Kerry Price and Rob Merlinner, who played absolutely terrific. That was the biggest thing in both of those series.

And he said, you know, it wasn't because we were playing in the side. summer. I won't make that excuse, but we're a team that finished seventh overall. We did through some serious adversity, but, you know, we lost to Kerry Price and, you know, that was the biggest reason why we lost. And, you know, at least he can admit it. You know, he finally got over the fact that, you know, they were just, one, they were outplayed and two, Carrie Price went on a heater for 10 games. And that Montreal Canadiens team guys gave the flyers everything they can handle. I'm surprised that didn't go seven games. You know, a lot of people, honestly probably didn't see the Canadians going on that kind of run. I didn't see Carrie Price getting that hot, but, you know,

when he does, he's one of the best goaltenders in the world. And getting to the speed and skill comment, he did say, you know, we had to get younger and faster. I think we've definitely done that. I think people will notice the difference this year. We're going to get back to the way that we played in 2016. It's who we are. You still have to find ways to be great goaltending.

We still have to be better. And I think we will be. I'm not giving up on this group. Jim, you know, the way they played in 2016, they had four legit lines that can actually score. I don't see that on this team. And I'm going to have an episode coming up soon, whether it's this week or next week, just detailing the big concerns that I have with this team going into the season.

I'm just going to dedicate a whole episode to it. And then I'll have another episode, you know, with just reasons for optimism and all that. But, you know, it's just like these teams, they're not built the same way. I mean, maybe you have similar kind of players. But, I mean, your top six is absolutely loaded. There's probably not five better top sixes in hockey. And that compare to the Penguins. I mean, when you can roll out, Jake Gensel, Cindy Crosby, Kisbury, Captain,

and then Jason Zucker, Gennie Mollingery, and Brian Rust. a lot of teams just can't match that. I mean, Tampa Bay obviously can. I mean, Washington's is pretty good. Toronto's top six is awesome. Edmonton's top six is great. But I mean, beyond that with some other teams too, I mean, not a lot of teams can match it.

And then, you know, you get to the bottom six. And there's just a lot more questions down there. You know, it starts with Jared McCann. What version of him are you going to get? You know, Brandon Tanev, you know, can he provide more offense? Who the hell is Colton Severe? I mean, I almost forgot that they acquired him in that trade for Mike Matheson. Teddy Blugher, we all know how good he is defensively.

Can he get some more offense in there? Ashton Reese is going to come back. Jan Kowski brought in. We all know how good defensively he is, but can he score? There's just a lot more questions down there. And I appreciate Jim going back to that speed game, but he honestly shouldn't have gone away from that in the first place. So, you know, that was just a weird comment to read,

you know, just like, you know, we're going to get back to the way that we played in 2016. It's like, well, you know, you never really should have left. It's what worked. You didn't have to go out and get someone like Ryan Reeves. You don't have to go out and just trade whoever for whoever for just reasons. You know, getting Jamie Alexioc, getting Eric Good Branson. I mean, Alexioc was good for the Penguins and then they traded him back for why, because he lost a fight to Tom Wilson. It's just like really stupid in my opinion.

So, no, I just, I have a couple little issues with that comment. I mean, you know, they're going to get to conspiracy captain's situation. I mean, paid a top 15 pick to get him and was he really worth that? We're going to find out pretty quick. I don't know how long he's going to be on Sid's line for. but right now I kind of have it at about maybe Valentine's Day mid-Debruary something like that until he gets got off there so we'll have to see

he also said that he doesn't expect to make any trades he also said it's going to be more complicated with trades because there's going to be a period of time before new players can join a team no nothing really else was in the article he did say you know going to be closer to a couple of months for Austin Reese he also said the fourth line with with Ashton Reese unable to start the season

will probably consist of Teddy Blueger, Brandon Taney than Colton Severe. So I'm guessing that means the third line will be Jared McCann, Mark Jenkowski, and Evan Rodriguez. That's a pretty interesting third line. We're going to find out right away just how decent this bottom six is. That's what I'm going to say, guys. I'm not a touch on that.

More in depth next week when I go over more concerns about the team, you know, with the bottom pairing and the goaltending as well. But, you know, it's just a big concern and we're just going to have to see just how good it is and see if it's an improvement over last year. And then finally in the article, you know, all the training can. practice. Those will be held at PPG Paints Arena, so they're not going to be held at a little new sports complex. And I know I touched on Teddy Bluger in this last day. We're going to be touching on him more in this next day when we go over his season review as it's

basically the last one we got to do. Before that, we have to talk about Bet Online, though. There's only one place that has you covered in one place we trust. That's betonline. You can sign up today for a free account at betonline.A.G and use that promo code locked on for your 50% off welcome bonus. Don't just sit on the sidelines anymore, guys. You can get in on the action. Don't forget to use that promo code locked on to receive a 50%

off welcome bonus with your first deposit. Bet online your online sportsbook experts. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L-O-O-N-A-Square Penguins. So, and Teddy Blue

Blue was first full season this past year, you know, I honestly really liked him. Of course, he played in 28 games in 2019, but this past season total of 69 games played.

A very nice number. Nine goals. I think it was 15 points overall. For his first full season, being almost a 10-goal player on the fourth line, that's pretty damn good. You look at his underlying numbers. Scoring chances for, scoring chances against 306 to 294.

His high danger, 120 to 119. So a little bit about, you know, just they're getting chances with him that he's getting them the right back. You know, his possession is high danger. Chances for, 50.2%. High danger goals for 17, high danger goals against 15. His high danger goals 4 percentage, 53.1%. His goals 4 percentage, 48%.

So it's a bit down from his smaller sample size in 2019, which was at 62.5%. I think he's going to build on these numbers. We're still at relatively low sample sizes for him. I think overall he's played in a total of 98 games for the Penguins. So we can't really judge him a lot yet. But I do think this could be a nice third year coming. for Bluger.

I mean, I really like his defensive game on that fourth line. He's a good two-way center. He can chip in offensively. I would like him to maybe get up to, if he can, maybe 15 goals or something for the fourth line. I mean, we've seen it done before in other fourth lines on the Penguins. I mean, he was really close last year. And, you know, in 69 games, like I said,

was basically a 10-goal score. And he's also a really good penalty killer. I know, I know a lot of people will tell me, really 100, anyone can kill penalties. You know, you don't need a PK specialist. Yeah, I know that. We've gone past the days of having Craig Adams be a mainstay, on your penalty kill or you know,

Zach Sell, Joe Vitale, you know, Tanner Glass and a bunch of guard. Rob Skier, he was on the penalty kill for Lord knows how long. So trust me, I know that. But, you know, he's a good even strength player and you can put him in the penalty kill and he's done a really good job there for the Penguins. So I really don't foresee that to be a problem going in the next year.

But, you know, for points expectations, I'm thinking, you know, 10 to 15 goals, maybe 10, 15 assists, maybe a 25 to 30 point campaign for him. I know it's 56 games, but I really don't see that as being too large. You know, I think that's honestly realistic expectations for him, but you know, we'll have to see, you know, who starts on the fourth line for him, or, you know, are they going to put Colton Severe down there, or are they going to put Marcii and Casimir down there, or are they going to put maybe Evan Ron Regis on there for the start of the season? But I think this may do it for this

episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I mean, there's really not too much going on. I mean, we did see the Capitol signs in Dano Chara to a one-year deal. I think it's like 800K or something like that. I mean, I was looking at the Capitol's defensive corps, speaking of that. And I don't ever want to hear a Capitals fan talk badly about the Penguins defensive corps ever again. You know, their defense looking like right now, Brendan Dillon with John Carlson, Demetcher, Orlov with Justin Schultz, and Daniel Char with Nick Jensen. That is a whole lot of crap. The Penguins' top four absolutely blows that top four away.

Trust me, I know how good John Carlson is. He's one of the best defensemen in the league. That was actual defense is like kind of eh. Brendan Dillon was actually decent for them with his underlying numbers coming over. But, you know, Justin Schultz ain't what he used to be. You know, some Caps fans are trying to talk him up. guys I watched that guy for too long and you know that 2016 and 2017 form is not coming back for him you know if it does I'll eat a lot of crow and then you know I just don't know how much

than Dano char has left in the tank he's 43 years old and you know it's just you know I did see a sweet from Jesse Marshall you could actually see a Schultz char pairing at some point imagine that against Zucker Malkin and rust and yeah you know I can only imagine it against that line because Evgeny Malkin and his line would probably just dump on them so you know I really don't know what the plan is down there in Washington, you know, their forwards are deep and, you know, they're also looking at a young goalie who has not had a lot of playing time, you know, similar to Pittsburgh. You know, we have no idea how both the goaltender is going to be. Then their defense is just, I don't know, I think their defense is that good. But anyhow, you know, wrapping up this episode.

Whatever another episode coming tomorrow, I hope you guys have a safe and happy new year. This year has been absolutely crazy. I'm sure 2021 is going to be better. You know, I'm hoping so at least. I think we're almost at the end of this, continue to stay safe, wear a mask and social distance and you know we're going to have hockey back here and i think officially two weeks so i'm really excited we're going to have some more guests on either at the end of this week or next week when we go back to five episodes officially so stay tuned for that and we'll have another episode coming for you on the 31st on new year's eve and then we may have another one on new year's day to bring in the new year of 2021 i think on new year you know maybe i'll do a segment or you know touch on the best

penguins moments from this year you know there weren't many of them because you know obviously with the loss everyone still has in mind but you know there were some that I have in mind, and we'll probably do that for a segment. But anyway, I've been rambling on too long. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Hope you all have a great rest of your day, and I will see you tomorrow on New Year's Eve.